


Just Ask

by Rioghna



Series: Sequins and Feathers [4]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Light Angst, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-21
Updated: 2015-05-21
Packaged: 2018-03-31 12:46:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3978601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rioghna/pseuds/Rioghna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set between the end of 'Sequins and Feathers' and 'Not those Showgirls', Gold has an important question to ask, he's just not sure how to go about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Ask

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BardicRaven](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BardicRaven/gifts).



Just Ask--A Sequins and Feathers story

"Papa, what's going on with you?" Bae asked as he sank down into the guest chair on the far side of the large wooden desk. He didn't often come into his father's office, at least he hadn't in years, not since he was at school. But recently pinning his father down had been difficult, more difficult. He'd put it down to time spent with his girlfriend, but that didn't account for his other behavior, avoiding phone calls, failing to talk about Belle, which was one of his favourite subjects, and being even more cagey than usual.

"I don't know what..." he started.

"Don't give me that, Papa. What's happened? Have you screwed things up with Belle again? I swear..."

"No, nothing like that. Belle is fine, more than. A little frantic perhaps. She's busy with her in service project. She's restoring a particularly important piece of clothing, and of course, it's part of the new show they are preparing for. There's..."

"If there is nothing going on with Belle, then what _is_ going on?" Bae caught something, a flash in his father's eyes. "Something to do with Belle, then. What, are you finally going to ask her to move in with you or..."

"Can I trust you, Bae?" his father asked, leaning forward, subjecting him to that intense look that had been known to make opposing councel flee. But Bae had grown up with it. "You will tell no one, not Emma, especially not Henry?"

"I don't know, Papa, not tell Em, that's a pretty tall order. What is it? You aren't sick or something?"

"No, I'm in perfect health," the older man said. Then he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small box, a small jeweler's box. He set it on the desk between them and Bae reached for it, realisation dawning. He opened the box.

"So, you've finally figured it out. Why is it here and not on Belle's hand then? You haven't asked her yet, have you?"

"It's not that easy," his father snapped.

"Sure it is, Pop. She loves you, you love her, there is no way she'll turn you down. Besides, it's not like you've never done this before."

"Belle is twenty years my junior, and that's just for starters. Besides, this is hardly the same thing. With your mother..." He stopped.

Bae had known that his parent's marriage had been difficult, but he'd always kind of assumed that it had been good, that they had been in love once. "How did you ask Mom to marry you?" He'd never actually asked the question. His father never talked much about their marriage, or about his mother at all, and Bae hadn't really minded. His memories weren't of the best.

"I...it more or less just happened. There were assumptions back then. It was different."

"Was Mom pregnant?" Bae asked. He remembered something, how cautious his father had been when he'd found that Emma was pregnant, the way he'd said that he assumed they'd be getting married then, almost bitterly. "Papa?"

"I don't know," the older man said finally looking down at his hands, at the desk, at anything but his son. "She thought she might be, or so she told me, and I thought I loved her. The timing couldn't have been worse. I was off to uni on scholarship, but I tried to tell myself it would all be fine. We rushed off to the registry office as soon as we could with the cheapest ring I could buy at the pawnbrokers. My aunts didn't like her or trust her. I asked for my gran's ring, but they'd not give it, they said not to her. A week later, I was on a train to the uni. I was going first, to try to find us a place that we could afford on my housing allowance with whatever work I could find. It was a week or two when I got back to Glasgow to pack us up in her father's old van. She told me she'd lost it. By that point, I didn't care. I thought I was very much in love. Then a few years later, you came along and I thought you were a ruddy miracle. I mean, we'd been very careful, wanted to wait 'til I finished law school. But none of that matters. I never wanted to tell you, didn't want you to get the wrong end. Of all the things I regret, I could never regret my marriage, if only because it gave me you." It wasn't easy, Bae knew, his father wasn't one to talk about his feelings. Not that he'd ever lied to Bae, but he had always tried to shield him from the more unpleasant aspects of their life. "But it doesn't matter. The point is, I've not really done this before, not properly."

"How long have you been planning this?" Bae asked. His father was usually extremely decisive, and this wasn't like him.

"A couple of weeks. I was going through some things and I found my gran's ring. I thought that it was best that I'd not given it to Milah. Before that, I'd thought about it, but it just seemed right."

"Mom would have sold it, Papa, you know that. Besides, Belle loves you, she deserves it."

"Thank you, son. But it doesn't solve the problem. How do I ask her?"

"Good thing I'm here then.  I can help."

 

Belle got back to her apartment late after what had been an incredibly long day. Almost every day recently had been, but at least now it was finished. Tomorrow she just had to get it displayed. All she wanted was a hot shower, to climb into her pajamas, and reheat her leftovers while calling Robert. Very few days passed without them talking, actually none, recently, though as busy as she had been, the phone was all they had. She'd not seen him since Sunday, the longest they'd gone since they started dating.

But before she could do more than drop her bag, when there was a knock on her door. She thought for a moment about not answering, but she heard her neighbour call her through the door. "Hey Belle, package came for you." She went to the door and opened it. "Hey, glad you got home," her neighbour, Gwen, said the moment there was space and thrust the box at her. "Package, came right before you got home when I was checking the mail. Good thing you got home when you did. I was just leaving," the woman said, talking ninety miles per minute, and reminding Belle just a little bit of Henry when he was excited. "I've got to boogie, I pulled the night shift."

Then she was gone, leaving Belle blinking in the hall, with a big box, having said not a word. After a moment, she went back into the apartment to look at the box. There was an envelope taped to the outside of the box. Cutting it free, she opened it. It contained only one word, written in Robert's distinctive handwriting, 'wait.' Belle hated waiting. Curiousity was one of her defining traits, for good or ill, depending. But she also knew Robert enjoyed his little surprises. She didn't want to disappoint him. Reluctantly, she returned to her original plan, and if she eyeballed the box, maybe shook it a little, well, who would blame her?

Having finished her shower, Belle heated her dinner and curled her feet under her on the couch. Robert called before she could. It made her smile, knowing that he was impatient too. "Did you get my present?" he asked almost immediately.

"I did. Can I open it now?" she asked.

"Curious? Yes, open it," Robert told her.

Belle adjusted the phone on her shoulder and began opening the box. Inside, a beautiful evening dress of blue silk slithered out. It was more or less a sheath in design, a little fuller in the skirt, slit higher on the sides, and the edges all embroidered with gold. Also in the box were a pair of gold heels and a small gold evening bag. "It's beautiful!" she exclaimed. "Am I to take it that you have some place for me to wear it?" Belle was always reluctant to let him shower her with gifts, or at least with as many gifts as he would like, but they had compromised on things she needed to accompany him to events he needed to attend, and the odd bit of lingerie.

"I do. Dove will pick you up at 7:00 tomorrow night."

"Do I get a hint?" Belle asked.

"Yes. Tomorrow."

 

At promptly 7:00 pm Friday evening, the long black car pulled up outside the apartment building. Belle had been waiting just inside the door. She'd spent a half an hour trying to wheedle the details out of him the night before, but he had been unmoved. Instead, Belle had to settle for waiting and guessing. She waited very badly. She'd spent an hour on her hair and makeup, and probably another half an hour choosing just the right lingerie, on the assumption that Robert would be seeing it later. Then she had finished dressing and decided to wait downstairs, going slowly on her heels rather than risk a return of her klutziness in her haste. Dove went straight to the door when he saw her, a smile on his plain face. Belle returned it and slid into the car.

"So, where are we going?" she asked.

"I can't say, Miss," he told her. Damn Robert, he knew her too well.

 

Arriving at the Met didn't particularly surprise her, after all they had all sorts of events in the evening, and she and Robert had attended quite a few since they started dating, but she did feel a bit overdressed as Dove handed her out of the car. There were a couple of other people, casually dressed, probably for the Friday night programming. But at the top of the steps, Robert was standing reassuringly, in full evening dress, the black tuxedo obviously made to fit his lean frame.

When she reached the top of the stairs, he handed her the rose he was holding with just a hint of a bow, before kissing her cheek gently. "Ready?" he asked, as he offered her the arm not occupied with his cane.

"Of course, but what's the occasion and why all the secrecy?"

"Soon enough, sweetheart, let me have my fun." He led her through with only a nod to the guards on duty. They went up, around, and through several galleries until she wasn't exactly sure where she was, then through a door and into a small room she was certain she'd never seen.

The first thing she noticed was the window. It took up the entire wall and looked out over the park as the last of the light of the sun faded. The second was the small table in front of it, set with silver, and crystal, lit by candlelight, and with only two place settings.

"Robert, what..." she whispered, overwhelmed.

"Surprise, sweetheart," he whispered leaning close to her ear, his voice stirring her already heightened emotions.

"It's...wonderful, but what's the occasion?"

"I don't need an occasion to spoil you do I?" he asked. "We've barely seen each other, and I wanted to do something special." He neatly deflected her question. "Now," he led her to her seat.

 

Dinner was brilliant. The museum did have a wonderful chef, and Belle was amazed and perhaps a little lightheaded with wine by the time the dark chocolate mousse with cherry compote was cleared away. The sun had long since gone and the lights of the part had come up, making it look a bit unreal, like a fairyland away from the small candlelit room they were in, high above.

"This has been wonderful," Belle said leaning towards him. "I will never forget this, not ever."

"Well, I hope to make it even more memorable," Robert whispered. His voice sounded just a little strained, and Belle noticed that he was twisting his napkin almost as if he was nervous. But Robert had never been particularly prone to nerves.

"What is it, Robert? Is everything all right?" His nerves were starting to be contagious. Things had been going so well, and she hoped that nothing had changed. Surely he wouldn't do all this for a farewell. It wasn't in him to play that kind of game, at least she didn't think it was.

"Belle," he said, swallowing. He picked up his wine glass and took a sip, before setting it back down and starting again. "Belle, I...You have made me happier than I can ever remember. I...I'm not a particularly good man, nor a particularly nice one, but you make me want to be a better man just to be worthy of you, of your love."

"You don't need me to be..."

"Please, let me finish. I know that I'm older than you, and I don't necessarily have a lot to offer a beautiful young woman, but..." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a box. "But what I have is yours, if you will have me. I will go down on one knee if you like, but I'm not certain I can get back up. Belle, will you marry me?"

The box was there, and he reached to open it, but Belle stopped him. Instead she took his hand in hers and brought it to her lips. She had not expected this, though she admitted to herself that she had dreamed about it. It always seemed they had been leading to this. She didn't even need to see the ring. "Yes."

**Author's Note:**

> So, this was written for my sister, BardicRaven, as a birthday present. She said she wanted an update for Sequins, but I decided to give her a whole story instead. Please read, review and all those lovely things.


End file.
